Slow braised brisket in red wine

This is one of my favourite Sunday roast recipes. It requires hardly any prep and leaves you free to enjoy a chilled Sunday before sitting down and tucking into a melt in the mouth piece of beef. The way this meat is roasted also gives you a nice gravy with very little effort. For this recipe you will need a whole piece of brisket, try and get one that is not too fatty but has enough to give it some flavour. Ask your butcher to roll the brisket for you, so that the joint stays together after slow cooking.

The recipe below serves 4 people and if you use a larger piece of beef then you will need to cook for longer. You'll also need a good cast iron or heavy bottomed pan with a good lid. This can be cooked in the oven, on the stove (very, very, very low heat) or on your BBQ in a Dutch oven on indirect heat.

1kg beef brisket300ml beef stock200ml red wine1 onion roughly chopped1 carrot roughly chopped1 bouquet garni (bay, thyme, parsley and rosemary tied together)5ml oil for browning the meatIn the casserole brown the brisket on all sides to seal and flavour the meat, place to one sideNext place the wine and the stock in the pot and bring to the boil for about 1 minute, this takes the harshness out of the wine and cooks off the alcoholAdd the veg and herbs and then place the brisket on top, I like to ensure the brisket is half covered by the liquidPut the lid on and place in the oven for 4 hours at 130c (fan) 140c (normal) or on a very low heat on the stove top Once cooked remove the meat from the juices and allow to rest for at least 30 mins covered in foilStrain the cooking juices and if you prefer a thicker gravy (I certainly do) you can reduce the sauce for a bit longer I like to serve this with Yorkshire puddings, steamed veg and roast potatoes.